Eli Gold, unionization, another execution: Down in Alabama
We have a bonus today on the podcast. Reporter Amy Yurkanin addresses some of the causes and fallout regarding the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that said state law requires embryos be treated, legally, as children.
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Change in T-town
It is undoubtedly a new era for Alabama football fans.
Coach Nick Saban has retired. Radio voice of the Tide Eli Gold is out. But we checked, and the team will still wear crimson, the sun will still rise in the east, and Dreamland will still give you white bread to sop up the extra barbecue sauce.
Meanwhile, Gold has made it clear that his parting with the school does not mean he’s retiring, reports AL.com’s Michael Casagrande.
News broke Wednesday that he will not be behind the mic for the Crimson Tide come football season. He had returned last year to broadcast Alabama home games after taking off the 2022 season while treating cancer.
He said the university chose not to bring him back, and that he’s plenty healthy enough to call ballgames.
Chris Stewart will be taking over football play-by-play duties. He calls men’s basketball games and covered football in Gold’s absence. He’s been with the broadcast network since 1998.
Nitrogen hypoxia II
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the state Supreme Court to set a date for what would be the nation and state’s second execution by nitrogen hypoxia, reports the Associated Press.
Alan Eugene Miller shot and killed three men at two of his workplaces in 1999 in the Birmingham area.
The victims were Michael Holdbrooks, Terry Lee Jarvis and Christopher Scott Yancey.
Like the first condemned man to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, Miller avoided an earlier lethal-injection execution attempt when the state couldn’t access a vein in time.
The AG’s request to move forward with the execution comes with the backdrop of the debate over whether nitrogen is a humane method. During the first execution, the inmate shook and writhed against the gurney.
More union campaigning
The push toward unionization continues in Alabama, with the United Auto Workers planning to use $40 million over the next two years to target automobile and electric-battery workers, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.
That indicates the UAW is putting effort into getting a foot in the door of the growing electric vehicle business.
Even though unionization efforts haven’t exactly taken off in the South, part of that $40 million will be used in our part of the world, and Alabama is home to several companies in the auto industry. A unionization push has been taking place at Vance’s Mercedes-Benz plant and Montgomery’s Hyundai plant.
Mayor vs. Alabama/Auburn recruiting?
Right now, a bill is making its way through the Alabama state legislature that would prohibit the teaching of “divisive concepts” and “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs in public schools or universities.
They’re talking about concepts such as assigning bias to members of a specific race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin isn’t pleased by the legislation being considers. AL.com’s Greg Garrison reports that Woodfin compared the bill to Wallace standing in front of the schoolhouse door.
He also threatened Alabama where it hurts — right in our ballteams.
On social media he wrote: “Although I’m the biggest Bama fan, I have no problem organizing Black parents and athletes to attend other institutions outside of the state where diversity and inclusion are prioritized.”
We’ve been boycotted by California. This could be the first time we’ve boycotted ourselves.
Quoting
“When you talk about an embryo, you are talking about – to me, that’s a life.”
More Alabama news
Born on this date
In 1918, the late baseball team owner Charlie Finley of BIrmingham.
In 1966, former Miss Alabama Resha Riggs.
Also on this date
In 1893, Auburn won the first Iron bowl with a 32-22 win in Birmingham.
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